Aztecs' Williams gets jump on tall foes

Mick McGrane

At 7-feet-2, Utah center Luke Nevill is the Mountain West Conference's leading rebounder with an average of 8.5 per game.

At 5-feet-10, a liberal gauge by any standard of measure, San Diego State guard Richie Williams may be jumping center against Nevill when the teams square off for a second time this season in two weeks in Salt Lake City.

For the second time in his career in Wednesday's 67-50 drubbing of TCU, Williams, the Aztecs' senior point guard, collected nine rebounds. Williams'total represented not only a team high, but a game high, four more than 6-9 TCU forward Zvonko Buljan, who ranks third in the league in rebounding.

If some are wont to view Williams' performance as a fluke, this is fact: Williams, who is averaging more rebounds per conference game (5.2) than 6-9 New Mexico center Daniel Faris, has led SDSU in rebounding each of the past two games with a combined total of 15. On a team that routinely starts two 6-8 forwards in Billy White and Ryan Amoroso, Williams ranks third in rebounding behind 6-7 Tim Shelton and 6-5 Kyle Spain. In conference games only, Williams is SDSU's rebounding leader.

“(Rebounds) were just falling into my hands,” Williams said after Wednesday's win. “All I had to do was catch them.”

Williams, who had seven rebounds on the defensive end, also is a major reason the Aztecs enter tonight's game at Colorado State ranked first in the MWC in scoring defense (59.0 points per game) and steals (8.37).

In addition to suddenly becoming Dennis Rodman in miniature, Williams added 13 points, a game-high six assists and two steals against TCU, which came into the contest as the conference co-leader with UNLV. He also blocked his first shot of the season.

“I think Richie is as good a defensive player as there is in the country,” coach Steve Fisher said. “We feed off of him. He's relentless and he never tires.”

Not when you're in pursuit of one of the most distinguished players in SDSU and MWC history.

Williams, who had five steals in SDSU's loss at BYU last Saturday, is only five steals removed from tying the school and conference record of 217 established by former Aztecs standout Brandon Heath, who also ranks as the leading scorer in the history of the league.

Williams currently ranks first in the conference with an average of 2.26 steals per game. No other player is averaging more than 1.8. In 19 contests, he has 77 assists and 41 turnovers, giving him an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.88, fourth-best in the league.

“He's playing with such intelligence right now,” Fisher said. “He's been all over the floor. He really spearheads us.”

Williams, of course, who could clearly leap atop a soapbox but never seeks one, routinely brushes accolades aside, preferring to remain focused on the task at hand. For SDSU, that means surviving tonight at Colorado State before facing the severe challenge of winning Tuesday at UNLV.

“It's a tough conference and everyone is in control of their own destiny,” Williams said. “Colorado State is a good team that beat UNLV (Jan. 14 in Fort Collins). We're going to have to treat (tonight's) game like any other. It's one by one and play like it's your last.” Mick McGrane: (619) 293-1850;
mick.mcgrane@uniontrib.com